Where’s missing teen?

Three years ago come Sunday, Derek Ryan Funk got in his truck about midnight and drove from a home in Powell. He has not been seen — or heard from — again.

by Beverly Majors

Three years ago come Sunday, Derek Ryan Funk got in his truck about midnight and drove from a home in Powell. He has not been seen — or heard from — again.

Derek is still listed officially as a missing person and a reward for information is still being offered by his family.

On Sunday, his family and friends will hold a “Remembrance Day” at Faith Promise Church.

The special event will be at 1 p.m. and is to “honor and remember” Derek on the third anniversary of his disappearance.

His parents, Kevin and Tricia Funk of Oak Ridge, hope someone with information will come forward.

Tricia told The Oak Ridger she “hopes to have media there (at the church) for TV purposes, to keep his picture out there.”

“We still have the reward,” she said, “but nobody has made any hits on it.”

Derek was last seen about midnight on May 12, 2010, when he left a friend’s house in Powell en route to his home in south Knoxville. That’s all the Funks know about their eldest son’s disappearance.

“People don’t want to be known as a snitch,” Tricia said. “People know what happened to him, but no one will talk. That is so frustrating for us.”

Tricia said she wants those who may know something to think about her family. Derek was 19 when he disappeared and she thinks those young people he was acquainted with at the time may have matured now.

“They could now be having children of their own,” she said. “I’d like to ask them — what if that was your sister, brother, and now three years later, down the road, what if it was your child? What would you want people to do? That’s what’s frustrating.”

She said neither she, nor anyone in her family including her younger son, Brett, has had any contact with any of Derek’s friends since he disappeared.

Tricia said media outlets had written about Derek’s disappearance several times in the past three years and his friends had agreed to talk to reporters when contacted, but none returned calls .

“I contacted them and they said they would talk to reporters, but none did,” she said. “My personal opinion is they might know something.”

She said she occasionally sees things people say on social media outlets like Facebook, Topix and forums like “’ya’ll don’t know the whole story,’” but then “no one will talk.”

“We know people know,” Tricia said. “We don’t know if they are afraid to talk or what.

“It’s frustrating no one will do the right thing.”

She said she recently attended a National Victims Week event in Knoxville and the speaker, a victim of crime, asked, “Are we going to let thugs intimidate?” She said he talked about a case where a witness had been threatened but still testified. In other words, she said, “He stood up.”

“That’s our case, exactly,” she said. “We’ve got a few people who won’t say anything. Take the reward, talk to police, surely you can’t be kept quiet. I don’t understand. People have to have a conscious. How can you sleep? Is there no one out there who believes in God anymore?”

She said searches for Derek’s truck were done in area lakes last year and vehicles were pulled from the water — but not Derek’s.

Derek was driving a 1996 white Ford Ranger pickup truck. The 2009 Oak Ridge High School graduate is about 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and weighs about 130 pounds. He has blond hair and blue eyes, and sports several tattoos on his body, including both arms.

If anyone has information about Derek Funk or his truck, contact the Knoxville Police Department at (865) 215-7212.